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San Francisco: Departments

History of Health Sciences
From its beginning, faculty members of the Medical School opened their courses of instruction with historical introductions. A formal course in medical history was first offered in 1929 at the San Francisco campus by Chauncey D. Leake. With support from Dean Langley Porter, and as a result of stimulating visits from Charles Singer, George Sarton, William Henry Welch, and Leroy Crummer, a departmental program was organized in association with library developments. Sanford Larkey was appointed librarian and associate professor of medical history and bibliography in 1930, and the Crummer Room for the History of Medicine was established in the new Clinic Building.

In addition to a formal, one-semester course open to all students at the San Francisco campus, seminars were developed by Herbert M. Evans, John B. deC. M. Saunders, and Chauncey Leake, and graduate students were accepted for advanced study. The Department of Medical History and Bibliography was the first of its kind to be organized in the country.

In 1935, when Larkey went to Johns Hopkins Medical School as librarian of the Welch Memorial Library, Leake became librarian and professor of medical history and bibliography, and continued to promote the program. Frances Tomlinson Gardner became curator of the Medical History Collections, which grew to some 14,000 items by 1941. Special gifts were made by many: general English classics from Hans Lisser; sixteenth-century classics from Leroy Crummer; a comprehensive Osler collection from Esther Rosencrantz; Greek medical classics from Pan S. Codellas; California medical classics from Henry Harris; and a large collection on the history of anesthesia from Leake. Publications from the department were made by Mrs. Gardner, John M. D. Olmsted, Felix Cunha, Saunders, and Leake.

When Leake left for Texas in 1942, Saunders became librarian and chairman of the department. Unfortunately, the speed-up training program of World War II resulted in abandoning the formal course on medical history. Yet the historical collections were fostered and special seminars were offered by Otto Guttentag, Evans, and Saunders. In 1958, a new library facility was provided and the historical collections were housed in appropriate quarters. Important publications on da Vinci, Vesalius, and Egyptian medicine were made by Saunders and his colleagues. The studies on Egyptian medicine by Leake and by Saunders were featured in Logan Clendening Lectures at the University of Kansas.

Leake returned in 1963, when president of the American Association for the History of Medicine, and offered a voluntary summer course in the history and philosophy of medicine. Many special historical exhibits were arranged. The well-known authority on Oriental medicine, Ilza Veith of the University of Chicago, came in 1964 as professor of medical history. A large collection of Oriental medical classics was obtained, and the historical collections grew, under Saunders' guidance, to over 20,000 items. The department offered special seminars and medical students were encouraged to try historical research. Significant publications were made by staff members, including important items by Evans, Karl F. Meyer, Salvatore P. Lucia, and Veith.

In order to encourage all students at the San Francisco campus to become interested in the historical and humanistic aspects of their studies, the name was changed in 1965 to the Department of the History of the Health Sciences. source

Humanistics
The Division of Humanistics was established in the School of Dentistry in 1962 to meet the educational need brought about by changing social and economic factors which were having a profound effect on the traditional methods of medical and dental practice.

The majority of these factors began to develop during the depression of the 1930's, and their impact began to be felt through various types of legislation, such as social security and the expanded use of health insurance. Impetus to this movement was added during World War II as salaries and wages were frozen and the unions negotiating with management began to develop "fringe benefits," many of which related health benefits to union membership. This began to spread to other segments of the population; veterans' benefits gave further impetus; city, county, and state welfare programs were expanded.

All of these developments indicated a growing feeling on the part of the American public that the provision of health services was as much a necessity as food, shelter, and clothing. Articles began appearing in dental literature describing these trends and deploring the lack of preparation of graduate dental students to face and accept the effects of these changes on dental practice. Although the School of Dentistry traditionally offered instruction in dental economics, public health, orientation, jurisprudence, ethics, nutrition, history, and psychology, the Division of Humanistics was organized to fulfill the educational research needs proposed by this expanded frontier.

In 1965, it was not proposed to add any new courses, but simply to take already existing courses and organize them in a coordinated divisional structure. The objective of the division was to prepare the dental graduate to understand and appreciate his social role and his responsibilities in the community. source

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Last updated 06/18/04.